To refresh your memory, “Fear Itself,” a new horror series that is available to view online on FEARnet.com, gave us a signed copy of 30 Days of Night: Dust to Dust exclusive Comic Con comic that is autographed by creators Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith and the issue’s writer, Tom Waltz.

Here’s a quick one that I just thought up, so here you go – there is a connective theme going on in these comic covers (could be something about the setting, could be something about the creators, could be a trait some characters on the cover share, could be a lot of things). You have to have some comic book knowledge to get the answer (in other words, it can’t be something you can tell just by the cover, like “they all feature blond people!” – you have to have some additional knowledge), and said knowledge isn’t as general as “they’ve all been married” (now if it was “they’ve all been married and their wife/husband turned into a supervillain,” THEN we’re talking!). This was a quick one, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there was more than one possible theme, but only one that I’m thinking of!

“Fear Itself,” a new horror series that is available to view online on FEARnet.com, gave us a signed copy of 30 Days of Night: Dust to Dust exclusive Comic Con comic that is autographed by creators Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith and the issue’s writer, Tom Waltz!

Here’s the issue in question (click to enlarge):

Here’s the info on the show:

“Fear Itself”, the suspense and horror anthology series from the creators of “Masters of Horrors” and aired on NBC, is now available to watch for free on FEARnet’s website and VOD service. Each installment bears the signature mark of one of a host of award-winning filmmakers, including John Landis (“An American Werewolf in London”), Darren Bousman (“Saw II, III and IV”) and Ronny Yu (“Freddy vs. Jason”). A line-up of gifted film and television actors star in the series, and the teleplays are penned by luminaries from the horror/suspense world.

“New Year’s Day,” directed by Darren Bousman (“Saw II, III and IV”) and written by Steve Niles (“30 Days of Night”) from a story by Paul Kane, is now live on FEARnet. The episode is about a young woman who wakes up in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by horrifying zombies. Take a look at these behind the scenes videos new to FEARnet:

Towards the end of the month, Comic Book Resources is doing a special feature on the Top 25 Comic Book Battles, and we want YOU readers to choose the list!

Vote for your top 10 top (and by top, I mean your favorite) comic book battles by 11:59 Eastern on November 19th, and we’ll reveal the results in a special feature on CBR the following week!

Simply list your top ten (and please pick 10 – less than ten and I won’t count any of your votes) from your top choice to your bottom choice, in the comments below (please include the word ACBC in the comment, that way your ballot will appear invisible to other readers).

Your top choice will be given 10 points, your second choice 9, etc.

Here are the following guidelines:

1. Vote for a specific battle in a comic book. It’s that simple.

Spider-Man versus the Juggernaut? Fine.

The Battle of Thermopylae in 300? Fine.

Superman versus Doomsday? Fine.

2. Specific issue numbers aren’t necessary, just make it clear what you’re referring to (so if you want, say, Superman versus Lex Luthor, be more specific about WHICH battle you’re referring to).

3. List ten choices.

Remember, please include the following word: ACBC – on your ballot. It will make it so your ballot appears invisible to other readers, so only I can read it (and count your vote secretly).

Everyone digs Atomic Robo, right? Fun comic book (I mean, it’s no Skyscrapers of the Midwest, which had a collection just came out this past week and can be had for a mere $20!) with good artwork.

Bill Reed picked it as the comic he’d most recommend to new comic book readers.

Well, Kirk Warren, over at the Weekly Crisis comic book review blog, is running a contest where he is giving away three AUTOGRAPHED copies (by Atomic Robo writer and co-creator, Brian Clevinger) of the Atomic Robo trade paperback, collecting the six issue Atomic Robo mini-series!

Simon & Schuster is doing an interesting contest for aspiring comic book creators. They have an author, Matthew Reilly, who is coming out with the sequel to his best-selling novel, The 7 Wonders. The new book is called The 6 Sacred Stones, and the contest is this – they give you an excerpt of the book, then you adapt the excerpt into a comic book (no longer than 20 pages), enter it, and the winning entry will appear in the Mass Market paperback edition of The 6 Sacred Stones, due out in January 2009.

Bumped – I’ve gotten four entries so far, and they’re quite good, but I’d like a couple more before I share them with you folks.

This nice fellow named dogwelder on Flickr decided to re-ink a panel I posted awhile back as an example of how DC had people redraw Kirby’s Superman.

I liked his ink job, but I call upon you artists out there to give it a shot, too! Re-ink the same panel dogwelder did, and e-mail a jpeg of it to me (bcronin@comicbookresources.com), and I’ll post them! It’s just the one panel, so it shouldn’t take up too much of your time.

The contest is a simple one – post in the comments section to this entry who you think the two finalists will be. Everyone who guesses correctly will be entered into a random drawing, with the winner receiving a bunch of free stuff, including autographed comics courtesy of Comic Book Idol 3’s host, J Torres!!